Dates for Your Diary

Upcoming events can be found on the calendar on the website School Life → Calendar but we have outlined upcoming events here for easy reference. For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page

Introducing the Team

Mrs Erika Cramp has been part of the dynamic HeadStart teaching team for the last few years. She is largely responsible for the fantastic shows that take place in our auditorium and is always ready to add a musical touch to school events.

‘When you look forward to going to work on a Monday morning you know you are in the right job! Teaching music is my passion. Watching how the faces of children of all ages light up when they make music is priceless.’ By Mrs Erika Cramp

Songkran Festivities

As part of the Thai new year celebrations, parents and HeadStart staff joined in the Thai Buddhist tradition of giving alms to monks. This tradition is about showing kindness to others and doing good deeds, values that are irrespective of religion. A big thank you to our international community for coming together to share Thai culture in a meaningful way.

As part of our Songkran celebrations, students observed the ‘Song Nam Phra’ tradition of pouring scented water on a Buddha statue.

The all school Songkran assembly was not only culturally rich with Thai tradition but also a lot of fun. The HeadStart support staff began the event with a procession of drums and a lively Thai dance. Nick Gold and Anna Mali, Year 10 students, were excellent hosts as they narrated the history and traditions of Songkran. Our Thai After School Programme dancers gave a beautiful performance of ‘Kai Mook Andaman’ while the Year 5s performed an upbeat version of ‘Ohlanor’ by Bert Thongchai. Students were then invited to perform traditional ‘water blessing’ for their teachers after which they were sprinkled with scented water as they exited the football pitch. What a wonderful way to end a very busy but productive term 2.

A full album of pictures can be found on the HeadStart Facebook Page

Both teachers, students and staff had a lot of fun splashing each other with water providing a welcome relief from the very hot weather this year.

A full album of pictures can be found on the HeadStart Facebook Page

U-Prep Programme

A big thank you to Ms Gemma Caines, Head of Sixth Form, who has given 11 U-Prep talks in term 2 helping parents and students understand university paths and options. For more details and on what has been presented click on the U-Prep programme link: https://headstartphuket.com/sixth-form/u-prep-programme Stay tuned for what’s to come in term 3!

HeadStart Raises 200,000 Baht for Good Shepherd Charity

Last week HeadStart hosted a fun filled fundraising day to raise money for The Good Shepherd. The whole school got involved and enjoyed many stalls and games ranging from ‘Beat the Teacher’ to lucky dips! There was a very lively atmosphere throughout the day and everyone had an enjoyable day. Together with the Swimathon money, we are pleased to inform you that we raised a little over 200,000 Baht. A big THANK YOU to all the children and teachers who got involved with the planning and preparations and to all our families for their support and generosity. Once again we have shown that when we work together we can achieve great things. Well done HeadStart!

Announcements

Secondary Outbound Field Trips

The Year 7, 8, 9 outbound field trips to Bangkok and Surat Thani are timetabled right after the Songkran holidays. Everything you need to know about the upcoming trips can be found HERE. We hope the students will have a wonderful time and that each one be will safe and healthy for the trip.

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How You Can Get Involved in the Upcoming English and Humanities Faculty Week

The start of June will be English and Humanities Faculty Week. The exciting activities in this week are a closely guarded secret but there is one aspect of it which might help you to be forearmed with over Songkran. In the weeks leading up to the week, there will be student reading and photography competition. The idea is that that students in Primary and Secondary must take a photograph of them reading somewhere unusual and interesting. The location could be connected to the title of the book, or it might just be an unexpected and beautiful place to read. So if you’re away on holiday, be sure to take some snaps but please be safe! Please send your picture to me via email at [email protected] By Mr David Pollicutt

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‘Catch Me Reading’ Foundation Photo Competition

Over the Songkran holiday we will be running a reading photo competition called Catch - Me - Reading for our Foundation children. Families are encouraged to do some extreme reading: celebrating books and the pleasure of reading them. To enter the photo competition you need to get a photo of your child being caught reading somewhere unusual, funny or surprising! You might be posing with a book up a mountain, relaxing with a summer read in a hammock or visiting somewhere amazing. Let your imagination fly! The photos will be used for display to promote reading at school. Research indicates that early language experience actually stimulates a child’s brain to grow and that reading to children gives them a huge advantage when they start school. We hope to encourage all families within the Foundation department to swap screens for stories this holiday and take part in the competition.

You have to be in it, to win it! Please send all photo entries to your child’s Homeroom teacher and to myself at [email protected]. The email should be labelled ‘Catch Me Reading’ by Thursday, 2nd of May. Where can you get caught reading? We are looking forward to seeing all your interesting photos! By Ms Fiona Scott

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Reading Caterpillar

To celebrate the numbers of books being read for enjoyment we will be making a reading caterpillar display to show how many books we have read. For every book that you share with your child over the coming weeks, complete and colour a caterpillar body part so we can add to our growing Reading Caterpillar. Help us to inspire a true love of reading this holiday and start sharing your favourite stories, tales, songs and poems. By Ms Fiona Scott

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Swimming Galas

This week, the HeadStart aquatics team hosted the annual swimming galas. Each student did an amazing job! Ms. Cardelle Dunne took lead on the Preschool who did a carousel of different activities to show off what they have learned this year while the other classes competed in a variety of activities ranging from water running races to 25 meters of butterfly. Congratulations to all the students who competed and thank you to all the parents who came to support. A big thank you to Mr Matthias Heitmann for the lovely photos!

Winning Teams:

Early Years News

Early Years have travelled around the world! They first boarded an airplane with their passports, with Miss Candice showing them how it’s done, and learned about safety precautions aboard HeadStart Airlines. They have also been to the travel agent’s in their role play, to book flights and check their passports. Travelling to Thailand and Japan has been incredibly exciting, and we have had help from Captain Pluem to fly them over Bangkok and Udonthani and explain the two cities’ differences! They also travelled to China, Russia and England, with whistle-stop tours to America, South Africa and so on. In Russia, we played a great game called ‘Cat and Mouse’ where one person is blindfolded (the cat) and the other child (the mouse) has to escape from them! The children loved this. The children have really enjoyed and learned lots about countries around the world. Well done everyone! By Ms Saki

Early Years Blue want to say a big thank you to Chloe’s dad, Lourens, for coming in to talk to us. We have really been enjoying our ‘Around the World’ topic so it was very exciting to have a real pilot come to visit! These real life experiences are fantastic for our children’s development, particularly in language and literacy as it allows them to ask meaningful questions. Lourens has also inspired lots of airplane play; with the children choosing to create their own representations of airplanes in our creative area and pretending to fly in our role play area. By Ms Holly

Transfer Errors

In our diverse HeadStart community, the majority of students and parents do not have English as a first language. It is interesting to note, however, that when writing in English, many language learners make errors which are specific to their particular mother tongue. When parents are helping students check their homework (or in the case of older students, you’re checking it independently), keep an eye out for these common transfer errors and seek to avoid and correct them when they occur. For Checkpoint students especially, make sure you re-read and check your writing when you’re sat in the exam halls next term!

Students Present the School Magazine

The students in the School Magazine club have been working hard again this month to bring you the latest HeadStart news. They have visited and interviewed teachers and students, and written about the latest exciting events at HeadStart. We hope you enjoy reading it! By Ms Kirsty Hark